Mike Frazier says heâs expressing his feelings about some of whatâs going wrong with America by erecting an approximately 30-foot-tall Minuteman facade high above Interstate 84 east of Baker City. The statue is meant to be a plea for patriotism as inspired by the original Minutemen of the Revolutionary War.

The Redcoats aren't coming, but the hills above Pleasant Valley have a new revolutionary guard.

Specifically, there is a 32-foot-high wooden replica of a Revolutionary War Minuteman looking over the freeway. Mike Frazier, who owns 2,400 acres in the Alder Creek area, said he erected the wooden statue to wake up citizens.

"Slowly, we're giving up a lot of our liberty. People give it up so slowly, they don't realize they are losing it," he said, "Ben Franklin said 'people that give up liberty for security, deserve neither.' "

Frazier's black-painted silhouette of a rifleman has stood atop the hill for several months and has seen its share of war.

War with nature, that is.

"It's blown over twice. If it goes down again, I'm going to have to rebuild it with heavier materials," Frazier said.

Frazier, a self-proclaimed Libertarian and Constitutionalist, built the statue with two-by-sixes and plywood. The cost of the materials came to about $600.

Frazier believes that the federal government has regulated people too extensively. He said citizens need to become more aware that their freedoms are disappearing because of things like Obamacare (The Affordable Care Act) and gun control.

"If people were to stand up, they could fix a lot of this," Frazier said.

He hopes that drivers on Interstate 84 will see the statue. It symbolizes the patriotic ideals of the Minutemen who fought for this country's freedom during the Revolutionary War.

"I hope there is a little patriotism in them," Frazier said.

When driving on Interstate 84 between Durkee and Baker City, the gigantic Minuteman can be seen around mile-marker 316 when looking to the south of the freeway.